Collison of Worlds
by flowerpower71
Summary: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy gets possessed by a psychotic triangle and sucked into another deminsion. Join Claire and Ford through the years on a not so typical love story full of fluff, tragedy, and angst. Spans before, halfway and a little bit after the series. FordxOC rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**This story has been several months in the making. I've been super excited to write this story ever since I first made Claire and I appreciate any and everyone who decides to give this a read. Thank you. :)**

I know the first couple of chapters wont be that much exciting but I promise the plot gets a lot better in later chapters so just hang in there guys!

 **And with that, let us begin.**

Gravity Falls belongs to Ale Hirsch

Claire belongs to me.

Enjoy!

* * *

It was a sunny, warm spring day in New Jersey. The local highschool students had just returned from their spring break the week prior and the students were falling back into the swing of their school routines.

One of these students was a male by the name of Stanford Pines. It was no secret that Stanford was good at many things: He was a genius at everything he did. Science, math, art, and in this case, multi-tasking.

Stanford walked down the crowded halls. His eyes glued to his newest book of anomalies that he had just gotten the day before. His chocolate brown eyes never left the pages as he weaved his way down the hall, past the students and headed towards his locker. He had walked down this same path many times and he had it memorized. So much so that he didn't need to look where he was going.

Or so he thought.

Ford rounded the corner and took a right turn. He suddenly found the pages of the book coming closer and closer until they collided with his face, knocking his glasses off in the process. He heard someone let out a startled gasp of "Oh!" and felt a body smack into his. He felt his balance get knocked off and Ford winced as he fell down. His bottom slamming onto the linoleum tile beneath.

Okay, perhaps he wasn't so good at multi-tasking.

"I-I'm so sorry!" he sputtered. His vision was blurry. Everything looking like big blobs of color. Where were those darn glasses?! "I'm sorry! I-I wasn't watching where I was going."

"I-It's okay." a voice replied. A female voice. A voice he did not recognize. A new student perhaps? Ford looked up, trying to local where the voice was coming from. A red, purple and blue blob. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Ford assured her, his hand reaching around blindly for his glasses. No luck. "I uh...I-I hate to be a bother but did you see where my glasses went?"

The voice was quiet for a second. Then two. "Oh! Here they are!"

"Thank you. I-" Ford held out his hand to take his glasses but felt his body tensing up with surprise as he felt them being slid onto his face. The teen blinked as his vision returned to normal and he finally got to see the source of the voice.

Like he had assumed, it was a girl. She looked about sixteen. She was dressed in a simple but cute purple dress with light blue fringe around the bottom and a white belt around the waist. A mass of wild curly red hair fell down her back and a sprinkling of freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. Forest green eyes sparkled a bit as she smiled at him. "That better?"

"Uh...Y-yes, thank you." Ford mumbled, adjusting his glasses. "Again, I'm sorry about bumping into you."

The girl waved him off. "It's okay. Really." she smiled again and held out a hand. "My name's Claire, by the way. Claire Gilmore."

"Stanford Pines." Ford returned the friendly smile and held out his hand. "But everyone calls me Ford."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ford." Claire chirped, grabbing his hand. She blinked. The hand felt...off somehow. She glanced down and much to her surprise, she saw an extra finger.

"Birth defect." He let out a sheepish laugh and gave a nervous smile, silently praying that she wouldn't make fun of him for his extra fingers like the majority of the other students.

"That's...pretty cool actually." Claire smiled.

Ford blinked. Cool? She thought it was...cool? "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It makes you unique."

"Heh." Well that went well. "Thanks...Forgive me, but I don't remember seeing you around here before."

"You shouldn't. I'm new here." Claire explained. "Today's my first day here."

"Where are you from?" Ford asked, picking up his fallen anamoly book and his messenger back which had gotten knocked off in the fall.

"St. Petersburg Florida." Claire explained. "My dad got transferred to New Jersey so we packed up and moved her over spring break."

"I see." Ford nodded. "Well, welcome to New Jersey."

The red head giggled. "Thanks...Um Ford, I hate to bug you but would you mind helping me find my locker? I kinda got turned around somewhere." she smiled nervously, fiddling with her necklace. "Number 238?"

"That's near mine." Ford pointed out. "Follow me."

They started walking off, entering another hallway and turning a left before finally arriving at a row of lockers.

"Here we are." Ford announced, walking over to his locker. Number 235.

Claire immediately spotted her locker, four doors down from Ford's and walked over. "Thanks."

"My pleasure." Ford smiled and began getting books from his own locker. "It's the least I could do after knocking into you."

"Yeah, not exactly wise to read and walk at the same time." Claire half joked as she entered the combination to her locker. "What book were you reading anyway?"

"A book about anomalies." he explained, pulling the book out from his bag and showing it to her. The covered titled ' _The Big Book of Anomalies.'_ "I've always been fascinated by unusual things since I was a kid. Hehe. Mostly because I am an anomaly myself." he held up his hand, wriggling his six fingers and once again, smiling nervously.

What was this thing called social interaction and how does one do it without sounding weird.

Claire giggled. "Well we all got our passions. Your's is anomalies and mine is baking."

"What do you usually bake?" Ford asked curiously.

"Lots of things." Claire responded. "Cookies, cakes, pies. Everything sweet. I even make up some recipes myself."

"You'll have to let me sample some, then." Ford chuckled, but the chuckle was replaced by a strangled gasp as an arm was suddenly wrapped around his throat and he found himself in a headlock.

"What up nerd?" a teen boy baring a striking resemblance to Ford smirked. He made and fist and began to rub it against the top of Ford's head.

Ford scowled and squirmed fighting to escape the headlock and noogie. "Let me go you knucklehead!"

"Knucklehead" laughed and released the teen from his noogie-fied prison. "Aw I'm just messing with ya, Sixer." Ford huffed in response.

"Friend of yours?" Claire asked a bit shyly, drawing the boy's attention to her.

"Twin brother, actually." Ford corrected, fixing his hair which had gotten messed up in the noogie. "Claire, this Stanley, Stanley this is Claire. She's new here."

"Nice to meet'cha." Stanley greeted waving.

"Nice to meet you too. I've never met twins before." Claire grinned. "What's it like?"

Stanley shrugged. "Pretty cool. Not that much different from just having a sibling in general I don't think."

"I wouldn't know. I'm an only child." Claire admitted. "But at any rate, you two seem close."

"We are." both the Stan's said in unison, causing Claire to giggle.

"We should probably get to class." Ford interrupted, glancing at the clock on the wall.

Stanley let out a loud annoyed groan. "Do we have too? I really don't feel like being picked on by Mrs. Smith today."

"Perhaps If you paid attention in class instead of snacking on toffee peanuts she wouldn't "pick on you." so much." Ford quipped.

"First of all, she's out to get me. And second, I was hungry!" Stanley defended.

Ford resisted the urge to roll his eyes and looked back over at Claire. "Do you need help finding your class?"

"Uh..." Claire quickly fished into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a folded up piece of paper, her schedual. "Uh, it's math."

"Sounds like youre coming with us then." Stanley replied. "That's our first class too, unfortunately."

Claire smiled, glad that she would have at least one class with someone that she knew. "Okay. Let's get going then."

With a slam of the locker, the new trio headed off down the hall towards Mrs. Smith's Math Class.

Little did they know though, that this, was only the beginning.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and see you next chapter. Have a wonderful Day/Afternoon/Night wherever you are. Bye~!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everybody! Sorry for the lateness. Life is busy and Im spread between about 4 different fanfics for this fandom. xP**

Anyway...yeah. This chapter is crud. *facepalms* I'm sorry. it's filler. I know. I was trying to go for bonding and finding out more about Claire but...yeah. I don't like this chapter. Idk.

I promise the next chapter will be out faster and not nearly as boring. Stick with me please!

Gravity Falls belongs to Alex Hirsch

Claire belongs to me.

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The morning classes went on as normal. Save for the addition of the teachers having Claire introduce herself to the class at the beginning. But aside from that, it was a pretty typical school day.

And a typical school day would not be complete, without Stan getting a detention.

"I cant believe it!" the younger Pines twin wailed later that afternoon. It was lunch time and the twins had just left the lunch line and were looking for a free table. "I can't believe I got detention!"

"Well, the Mr. Wilson did tell you to stop eating those toffee peanuts in class." Ford pointed out.

"I missed breakfast. So sue me." Stan huffed and looked around, spotting an empty table near the back of the room. "There's a spot!"

The two hurried over and sat down at the table, each sitting across from each other.

"What is this even supposed to be?" Stan mumbled as he poked at the mysterious brown slop on his tray with a plastic fork. He recoiled back in alarm as the "food" growled at him. "Okay, that's it. Tomorrow I'm bringing lunch from home."

"Same here." Ford agreed, pushing his tray to the side.

"Um, hey."

The Pines twins looked up in the direction of the voice and found Claire standing at the end of the table, a brown paper bad clutched in her hand.

"Hey Claire." Ford greeted.

Stan gave a little wave. "Sup?"

"Room for one more?"

"Of coarse." Ford scooted a bit to the left and Claire sat down next to him, across from Stan, and placed her lunch bag on the table. "So, how're you liking your first day?"

"Pretty good so far." the red head smiled. "Everyone seems pretty nice."

"You obviously haven't met that jerk Crampelter yet." Stan scoffed, grabbing his soda can of Pit Cola off of his discarded lunch tray and taking a sip of it.

"Who?" Claire asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Just a bully. Don't worry about him." Ford answered, not wanting to go into full detail of how said bully had been tormenting him ever since childhood.

"Yeah. Besides, if he ever gives you any trouble, just let me know and I'll kick his a$$." Stan declared, grinning proudly.

Claire just let out a small chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." She ripped her lunch bag open and pulled out its contents: A ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, a bottle of water and something wrapped in tin foil.

"What's in there?" Stan asked, curiously.

Claire grinned a little and unwrapped the tinfoil, revealing three, soft, gooey looking cookies inside. "Chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Want some?" she offered, holding out two of the cookie's to the Pines twins.

The brothers thanked her and each took a cookie and took a bite. Claire watched their expressions and smiled to herself as she saw them freeze and their eyes grow wide. Equal expressions of pure bliss and ecstasy appeared on their faces as the perfect combination of gooey chocolate, melted butter, sweet sugar and creamy peanut butter assaulted their mouths and taste buds.

"I take it you like them?" she giggled.

"I'm not exaggerating when I say, that that was one of the best cookies I've ever had!" Stan exclaimed.

Ford nodded in agreement and finished his cookie, savoring each bite. "I agree."

Claire grinned proudly. "Thanks. I made them myself."

"You ever think of selling those things?" Stan asked. "I bet you'd sell a lot of them."

Claire blushed a little bit and tucked a strand of her red curly hair behind her ear. "Well...kind of. I...I kinda want to open up my own bakery someday."

"Based on these cookies, it'd be a success." Ford declared.

Claire smiled a bit, appreciating the praise and boost of confidence. "Thanks. I always liked baking. Ever since I was old enough to reach the oven."

"Well, even though that bakery dream is awhile away, we wish you luck." Ford said.

"Thanks."

The trio began to eat their lunch.

"So," Stan began, deciding that perhaps if he avoided the mysterious, growling, brown slop that was supposed to be the main dish of his meal, (along with avoiding the vegetables as well, because vegetables are gross) then the rest of the food should be okay to eat. "Where did you say you was from again?"

"Florida." Claire answered. "Born and raised in St. Petersburg my whole life."

"St. Petersburg? Isn't that in like, in Germany or something?"

"You're thinking of Russia." Ford corrected taking a bite of the carrots and peas mix. "There's also a St. Petersburg in Florida as well."

"Yeah, yeah, can it Poindexter." Stan scoffed, stabbing his macaroni and cheese noodles with his fork.

"It's pretty nice there." the red head jumped in. "My mom works at home and teaches a self-defense class on Thursdays."

"Tough girl. I like it!" Stan grinned.

"And my dad's a business man. His company transferred him to New Jersey and well, here we are."

"Interesting." Ford mused, pushing his glasses up.

"Our dad runs a pawn shop and Ma's a telephone psychic." Stan put in, stuffing another bite of mac-n-cheese into his mouth.

Claire's smile grew. "A psychic? That's so cool!"

"Meh. I guess." the younger twin shrugged, swallowing. "If you like compulsively lying for a job."

"Still, it might be fun to try sometime." Claire said to herself. "Think she'd give me a reading."

"If you pay her." both twins said in unison.

* * *

The rest of the school day dragged on like normal and at long last, the final bell rang.

"Finally! Freedom!" Stan cheered as he burst through the school doors, a flood of students following after him and parting as they all went their separate ways. Claire and Ford quickly followed after the burly teen.

"So, how did your first day of school go Claire?" Ford asked.

"Pretty good." The red head nodded. "The fact that I made two new friends right off the bat didn't hurt matters either."

"Happy to oblige." Ford chuckled.

"Ya need us to walk ya home?" Stan asked, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets and grinning, his brown eyes sparkly with hope. "Maybe we could have some more of those cookies~?"

"Stanley!" Ford hissed.

"What? They were good!" The younger twin protested.

Claire covered her mouth and chuckled at her new friends bickering. "You don't have to walk me home but if you want to you can."

"Lead the way then." Ford ordered and the trio set off down the block.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! Sorry this is late. Life has been crazy crazy busy! (As per usual. xP ) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

 **Claire belongs to me.**

 **Gravity Falls belongs to Alex Hirsch.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"...So what is this supposed to be exactly?"

"I'm not sure."

"I...I don't even know how to respond to this!"

"Oh gawd, I think I saw it blink!"

Several weeks had passed since Claire's arrival to Glass Shard High school and during that time she had grown closer to the Pines twins. At first, it was a bit odd having a third member to their group. For as long as they could remember, it had always just been Stan and Ford. They were the outcasts of the school and thus, didn't have many other friends. Sure there was the occasional student who didn't totally hate them but wouldn't exactly consider them friends, either. But that didn't matter for Stan and Ford would always have each other.

But the twins would be lying if they said that they didn't like having Claire around. She fit into their little duo just fine and the perks of being the taste testers for her latest baking treats was a major plus.

What was not a major plus however, was the days cafeteria lunch.

"Okay seriously, what is this supposed to be?!" Stan exclaimed. The three teenagers were sitting at their usual table near the back of the cafeteria and staring down at their trays. The main coarse was supposedly Chicken Pot Pie. The crust was burnt to a black crisp and the insides was filled with a white unappetizing, bubbling looking "gravy" that had various chunks of rotten vegetables floating inside. Claire couldn't say for certain but she was pretty sure she saw an eyeball in hers.

"It's supposed to be chicken pot pie, but I've never seen any pie that moved this much." Ford mumbled in response to his twins question. He stared at his food and his eyes widened in alarm and disgust as the burnt crust of the pie rose and fell as it breathed.

"I think I'm just going to skip the main dish and go right to desert." Claire said, pushing her tray back.

"Did ya bring any more cookies?" Stan asked perking up, looking at the redhead with hopeful brown eyes.

"Nope." Claire had to hold in a giggle as Stan's hopeful smile dissolved into a pout. "I brought brownies instead."

"Brownie's are acceptable, too." Stan said, perking up again. Claire chuckled and reached into her bag, pulling out the tinfoil wrapped chocolate treats. "I made them last night."

"They look delicious Cla-" Ford started to say but was cut off as he felt a large, beefy hand suddenly latch itself to the back of his head. The grip on the hand tightened, pulling at his brown locks and then pushed down, causing Ford's face to smash into the disgusting excuse of chicken pot pie.

"Ford!" Claire gasped in shock as Stan's jaw hit the floor. The younger twin suddenly let out a growl of rage, brown eyes glaring at his brothers attacker, and childhood bully. "Crampelter!"

"Enjoying your lunch, dork?" the blond bully laughed, releasing his hand from the back of Ford's head, letting him sit up. Stanford jackknifed into a sitting position and coughed, his face, bangs and glasses completely covered with the gravy mixture and various veggies.

"Hey! You're gonna pay for that!" Stan snarled going into protective brother mode and standing up from the table, looking as is he was about to launch himself across it to get to his brother's bully.

"Stan, calm down." Claire said calmly but sternly, not wanting her friend to get in trouble. She reached over and handed a handful of napkins to Ford. "Are you okay?"

Ford just coughed up some more gravy and nodded, removing his glasses and started to clean them off. Accepting the answer, the redhead whirled around, giving Crampelter a death glare. "That wasn't nice!"

The bully just shrugged and smirked, not at all sorry. "Why would anyone be nice to these two losers?" Claire jumped slightly as Crampelter suddenly flung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his body. "C'mon babe. What's say you ditch these clowns and hang out with a _real_ man~? Whatcha say? Me and you can take a ride after school down to the boardwalk and I'll buy ya a soda.

Claire gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. She reached up and threw the arm off of her. "These _clowns_ are my friends! And I'd rather be with them and be considered a loser than be anywhere near the likes of you, you fat pig!"

By now the commotion was drawing the attention of the rest of the students in the cafeteria. All of them eyeing the table with wide eyed fascination, as if they were watching a movie. All of the students waited with baited breath to see what would happen next.

But they would never get their answer for at that moment the bell rang.

Crampelter scowled. "Fine then! Be a loser. See if I care. You'll come to your senses eventually."

And with that, the bully turned and stormed out of the cafeteria. The other students quickly packing up their own things and following suit, flooding out the doors.

Ford meanwhile had gotten his face mostly cleaned of the gravy and veggie slop, though some of the mixture still clung to his hair. "Th...thank you, for standing up for us, Claire."

"Yeah! You sure told him." Stan cheered.

Claire just shrugged modestly. "Well you guys are my friends." She turned towards the older twin. "Go get yourself cleaned up, I'll cover for you."

"I'll help you, bro." Stan offered, raising to his feet.

Ford just simply nodded. "Alright. Thank you both."

The three parted ways. Stan and Ford to the boys bathroom and Claire to class.

* * *

Stan felt sick as he stared at the paper in his hand, later that afternoon. A giant, red colored letter F, glaring up at him. Silently mocking him. "I'm so dead."

"I told you, you needed to study for the test instead of spending all that time watching tv." Ford pointed out, putting his test results in his folder. Making sure to keep his own grade, an A++, out of his twins sight. He didn't want to make Stan feel any worse than what he already did.

"Can it, Poindexter." Stan snapped, running a hand through his hair. "Ma and Dad are gonna kill me!"

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps heading their way and a call of "Hey guys!" as Claire walked over.

"Hey Claire." Ford responded, giving the red head a small smile.

"Hey Red." Stan mumbled less enthusiastically, addressing her by the new nickname he had recently dubbed her with, due to obvious reasons.

"How'd you do on the math test?" Claire asked curiously. She opened up the notebook in her hands and pulled out the paper she had stuffed in their earlier. Grinning proudly, she turned it over to show off her grade. "I got an A!"

"Congratulations." Ford smiled.

"Thank you." Claire smiled but it didn't last long for she noticed Stan's miserable expression. "What's wrong?"

The burly twin said not a word. He simply held out the test results. Claire flinched, regretting bringing up the test at all. "Ouch."

"Yeah, ouch." Stan sighed.

"Well, look on the bright side Stanley," Ford jumped in. "At least you can take a make up test, right?"

"Yeah, whoopee. I get to fail the same stupid test twice."

"Come on now, don't be like that. Try to be positive." Stanford encouraged trying to cheer up his brother but his attempts were in vain.

Claire remained silent throughout this exchange. The gears in her mind beginning to turn as she calculated a plan. "...Well, what if I tutored you?"

The brunettes stopped and turned towards the girl. Stanley quirked an eyebrow. "Tutor me?"

"Yeah." Claire nodded. "I mean, I know I'm no genius like Ford, but I'm pretty good in math."

Stan hesitated. He had been tutored before in the past and they usually almost ended up with the tutor leaving in a fit of frustration and anger. Ford had even tried to help but his tutoring sessons weren't much better. "I don't know Red..."

"Aw come on Stan!" Claire pleaded. "What's the worst that could happen? Besides, you do need to pass that test."

"She has a point, Stan." Ford added, butting into the conversation.

After a moments pause, the younger but stronger twin shrugged. "Okay."

The frecklfaced girl grinned. "Okay. Good. Is today after school okay?"

"Sure."

"Okay. We can do it at my house. You can come too Ford."

The elder twin reached a hand up and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'd love too but I promised Miss Carmichael I'd stay behind and take some extra credit tests after school."

"Nerd." Stan mumbled, leaning against his locker.

"Well that shouldn't take too long." Claire mused, flipping open her notebook and pulling out the pen she had stuffed within it's spiral binding. She scribbled something onto a clean piece of lined paper and then ripped it out, handing it to the six fingered nerd. "Here's my address. Stan and I will head on over there when school ends. You just come on over whenever you get done."

"Will do. Thanks." he replied, folding the paper neatly and stuffing it in his pocket.

* * *

The school day came and went, and as the last bell of the day rang, Stan and Claire set off for her house while Ford stayed behind; promising to come right over as soon as he was done with the test grading.

"Done already?" Miss Carmichael asked forty something minutes after school had let out.

"Yes Ma'am." Stanford smiled handing the elderly teacher the test papers.

The old woman chuckled, placing the papers on her desk. "Well I'm sure you got an A+ on these, like you did on all your other tests. You're free to go."

"Have a nice weekend, Miss Carmichael." Ford bid farewell, slinging his backpack onto his back and heading for the door.

"Goodbye dearie."

And with that, the brunette teen left, walking down the halls and out the building. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the neatly folded piece of paper with Claire's address on it. He unfolded it and read the address. _187 Lilac Lane._

"That's not too far." Ford mused to himself, slipping the paper back into his pocket. He continued walking but as he rounded the corner, he froze, seeing someone he did not want to see.

Well, to be more specific, three someones.

"Hey look! It's the six fingered freak!" One of Crampelter's goons exclaimed as he spotted Ford. The teen froze, taking a step back, his stomach twisting in a knot and his body going stiff.

Oh no.

"Hey freak, where's you're dumb brother at?" Crampelter asked, noting that there was only one Pines twin present.

Ford backed up another step. This was bad. Stan was the fighter between the two. Not him. Despite the fact that both Ford and Stan had been in boxing lessons since they were kids, Ford was still the weaker twin. And Crampelter and his goons knew it.

"Please, I-I don't want any trouble..." Ford pleaded, holding up his hands in a surrender like motion.

"Not so tough without your brother to protect ya, huh?" Crampelter taunted, a wicked grin pulling at his lips and showing off his crooked teeth. He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. "Get 'im boys!"

Ford ran.

The three bullies chased the young teen down the block. Ford zigging and sagging trying to lose his persuers but it was no use. His lungs began to burn and his breathing came in pants and he silently cursed himself for already getting tired. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. A startled yell escaping his throat as the hand clenched and jerked, throwing the man into an alley. The metal trash cans clanked and rattled loudly as Ford crashed into them. He stumbled and tripped, falling on his bottom as the trash cans around him fell, knocking trash out.

Ford flinched and looked up, paling as he saw Crampelter and the others slowly advance towards him, like three hungry lions cornering a terrified gazelle. Ford swallowed hard scooted back until his back pressed against the alley wall. "N-No! Please! Don't-"

He saw the fist coming before he could even finish his sentence.

* * *

"Okay, so once you take the 47 and then divide it, what does X equal?"

Stan bit his cheek and tapped the eraser of the pencil on the edge of Claire's kitchen table; staring down at the open math book. He desperately wracked his brain for an answer. " Uh...224?"

"Right!" Claire exclaimed smiling. "You got it!"

The brunette twin blinked, looking stunned. "I actually got it?"

"Yes!" Claire nodded, still grinning.

"Huh..."

Claire couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle at her friend's expression. "Don't look so shocked."

"Well I am." the burly teen shrugged. "Ford's the smarter twin."

Claire's smile fell. "Hey, you're smart too."

The male teen scoffed leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms. "Yeah, right."

"You are! You're smart in your own ways."

"Oh yeah?" he scoffed. "Name one."

Claire opened her mouth to respond but her words failed her. "Um...You...You uh...Give me a minute." She cowered a little bit under the glare he shot at her. "You just haven't found your niche yet."

"Whatever." Stan huffed, reaching across the table and grabbing another cookie from the plate in the middle of the table. "Easy for you to say. You already got your talent. You got baking and Ford's got his sciency nerd stuff."

"And you'll find your talent too, someday." the red head said softly. "Youre just a late bloomer is all. Some people find their calling early in life and others find it later. And there's nothing wrong with that."

"...You think so?"

"I know so."

Despite himself, Stan couldn't help but smile. He reached over and wrapped his arm around Claire, trapping his friend in a bear hug. "Thanks Red."

She giggled. "No problem big guy."

 _Ding Dong_

"That must be Ford." Claire pulled out of the hug, jumping out of her chair and heading to the door. Stan remained seated and shoved the cookie he had grabbed earlier into his mouth.

"Hey Ford." Claire greeted as she opened the door. "You made it just in time, Stan almost ate all the cook- _GASP!"_

The red head covered her mouth in shock as she stared horrified at the sight in front of her. Ford was covered in bruises. His brown hair was a mess, his orange colored shirt ripped, and his glasses now sporting a crack in the left lense. "Ford?!"

"H-Hi Claire..." the genius teen mumbled, not knowing what else to say.

"O-Oh my gawd Ford! What happened?!" Claire demanded, reaching out and gently grabbing his hand, pulling him inside.

"Hey." Stan called, rounding the corner. "What's all the rucku-HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES! Sixer what happened to ya?!"

"C-Crampelter..." Ford whimpered, holding the ripped part of his shirt up, trying to cover himself. "I ran into him on the way over here..."

"And he just beat you up?!" Claire gasped.

Stan clenched his teeth together and made a fist. "I'm gonna kill that fat jerk for this!"

The older twin felt himself involuntarily stiffen as he felt an arm gently slip through and wrap around his. "Come on." Claire urged, giving it a gentle tug. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"I'll help." Stan volunteered, following the two of them as Claire lead the brothers to the bathroom.

"The first aid kit's in the medicine cabinet." the redhead said, gently making her injured friend sit on the edge of the bathtub. Stan did as he was instructed, grabbing the small red box out of the cabinet and setting it on the sink, popping the lid open.

"What happened?" Claire asked, pulling guaze out of the first aid kit.

Stanford shrugged and kept his gaze on his shoes. His pride, along with his body, wounded. "...They just jumped me."

Stan scowled, wetting a washcloth with warm water to wash off the bloodstains. "I'm gonna kick his sorry a$$ the next time I see him." he swore.

"Don't go getting yourself in trouble for fighting on school grounds." Claire warned, her voice stern as she reached up and snatched the cloth from the younger twin. Ford stiffened when she reached up, gently holding the left side of his face with her hand and wiping some dried blood from his temple. "You poor thing..."

The brunette winced, the water stinging the cut. "I-I'll be fine, Claire."

The next fifteen minutes were spent in silence as Stan and Claire each took turns patching up the third member of their little group. Cleaning cuts, applying medicine to bruises and scrapes and finally covering what they could with bandages and gauze.

"There. That outta do it." Claire announced as she tossed the bandaid wrappers into the garbage.

"How do ya feel, Sixer?" Stan asked concerned.

"Sore...but a bit better than I was." Ford shrugged.

Stan frowned and turned his head looking at Claire. "I think we're gonna have to cut the tutoring short today, Red. I should get him home."

"Of coarse, yeah." Claire nodded. "Don't sweat it."

"Thanks for helping me, Claire." Ford said as he stood up.

"Don't thank me. Just get to feeling better."

So the three of them exited the bathroom, Claire leading the twins to the door and bid them goodbye as they exited the house and walked down the street; heading to their pawnshop apartment.

* * *

The weekend passed and by Monday morning, though still sporting a couple of bruises, Stanford was feeling well enough to return to school. He and Stan met Claire at their usual meeting spot and the three of them headed off to school together.

"Wait, what happened?!" Stan asked.

Claire bit her lip, trying to hold back the laugh that threatened to escape. Her cheeks turning red with slight embarrassment. "Okay, so I like to take super hot showers right? And I had the window open to let the steam out and apparently my neighbors saw it but thought it was smoke. Next thing I know, I hear sirens and someone banging on the front door. The neighbors called the fire department!"

The frecklefaced girl was rewarded with laughter from her two friends.

"My gawd!" Stan gasped between laughter. Ford chuckled softly, offering on a simple, "Oh my." as a response.

"It's funny now but I was so embarrassed at the time." Claire snickered.

"I can imagine." Ford nodded.

"So," Claire began, changing the subject. "How're you feeling Ford?"

"...My eye still hurts a bit." He admitted, referring to his black eye. "But I can manage."

Claire frowned, her heart aching in her chest as she stared up at the shiner. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." the nerd responded, adjusting the strap on his back. "I'm fine Claire. Really."

"I just don't like seeing my friends hurt is all..." she mumbled.

Ford opened his mouth to respond but all three of them suddenly jerked to a stop, Stan reaching an arm out in front of his brother and the girl, stopping them. "Oh great."

"Well if it isn't the freak and the dumber freak." Crampelter smirked, standing in their path. Out of the corner of her eye, Claire noticed Ford had taken an involuntary step back. Clutching the strap of his bag in a white knuckle grip.

Stan on the other hand glared at the fat bully, gritting his teeth and clutching his fist as a tidal wave of anger washed over him. "Hey! I got a bone to pick with you for beating up my brother!"

"Not my fault your freaky brother is such a weakling." the blonde shrugged. "Cant even defend himself when you aint around to protect him."

"It was three against one!" Stan snapped, practically growling.

"Oooh~ Tough guys getting mad now~"

In the blink of an eye, Stan threw off his backpack, throwing it at Ford who caught it in his arms and took a step towards the bully, fist clenched.

"That's it! You're gonna get it now! LEFT HOOK-"

"Oh Crampelter." Claire cooed, shoving herself in front of Stan, effectively ending the fight before it could begin. She smiled up shyly at the confused blond. "I...I never noticed how handsome you are~"

The world stopped, all three males staring at the girl. Stan's jaw practically on the ground and Ford feeling like he had just been slapped in the face.

Did...Did they hear that right?

The stunned bully blinked a few times, letting the words register. He stiffened as the red head took a step towards him and placed her hand on his arm giving it a squeeze. "Oh. That a little muscle I feel~? Nice. Very nice~"

"Claire that the hell?!" Stan squawked in disbelief. Ford still couldn't remember how speak.

"Heh, well it's about time ya finally came around, toots." Crampelter smirked sliding his arm around Claire and resting it on his shoulders. "Hows about we ditch these losers?"

"Sounds good to me." Claire grinned. "...Although, the only loser I see around here _is you!"_

The Pines twins watched with a mixture of shock and slight, _slight,_ sympathy as they watched the next scene play out before them. In the blink of an eye, Claire raised her foot and had kicked Crampelter as hard as she could. Jamming her white sneaker into his crotch. Both boys automatically flinched as their bully howled with pain. However before he could drop, Claire yanked his arm off of her shoulder and twisted it behind his back, holding it in place. Crampelter slammed do his knees and yowled with the new wave of pain emitting from his arm.

"YOU CRAZY B****! LET ME GO!"

"Not until you promise to leave my friends alone!" the red head snarled. "If I _ever_ find out you've been picking on _either_ of them again, you're going to be in a lot worse pain than you are now!"

"Alright! Alright! I'll back off! Now let me go!"

And she did. Crampelter faceplanting on the ground upon the release, and then curling up into the fetal position, still not recovered from her pain.

"Glad we had this little talk." Claire smirked, dusting off her hands and smoothing down her skirt. She then turned and started walking down the street as if nothing had happened. "Come along boys. We're gonna be late."

Stan and Ford stood frozen. Eyes wide and jaws slacked. They watched Claire as she walked off and then glanced down at Crampelter, still on the ground in pain, clutching his crotch.

"...HEY! CLAIRE! WAIT A SECOND!" Stan was the first to snap out of his stuper. He grabbed his bag and ran after the female, jumping over Crampelters body. Ford quickly followed suit, stepping around his incapacitated bully and running to catch up with his twin and their mutual friend.

"How did you..." Ford trailed off, upon catching up. "Wh-where did you-"

"What was THAT?!" Stan butted in. "Where the heck did you learn to kick butt like that?!"

Claire just shrugged. "My Mom teaches a self defense class remember? She taught me a few things."

"...Huh." was all Ford could say.

"Heh, tough gal. I like it." Stan grinned. He then frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Hey wait a second, what was with all the flirting?!"

"To get him to let his guard down. Duh." Claire explained, like it was obvious. "...Hey wait, you two didn't think I was serious did you?!"

"...Well..." Ford trailed off.

Claire gagged. "Oh hell no! There's no way in a million years I would ever like that creep! And besides, I couldn't ever be with someone who is mean to my friends."

"Wise choice." Stan chuckled, reaching over and ruffling her hair.

Claire couldn't help but giggle. "Well hopefully Crampelter wont be bothering you two anymore."

"Ya kidding? After what you just did, he wont be coming around for a long time!" Stan laughed.

"Hey um..." Claire looked over at Ford. The glasses wearing teen shuffled a bit but smiled at the girl. "Thanks."

Claire smiled back. "Anything for a friend."

* * *

 **So it seems like Claire aint as much of a weakling as she looks. ;D Crampelter finally got what was coming to him, the jerk.**

 **I'll try to update this when I can. In the meantime, you all have a good day/afternoon/night wherever you are. Bye for now!  
**


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